The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-09-23

ed against us in Heaven. it win be salts.
faction to have written, on unfailin2
archives, the fact that in the month Of
May, or June, or September, or December,
1887, we made the blissful mistake Of sup.
posing that we were entertaining weak
men like ourselves, when ioi they showed
their pinions before they left, and we
found out that they were angels unawares.
Another reward comes in tn. good
wishes and prayers Of our guests. do
not think ones house ever gets over hav-
ing had good man or woman abide
there. George Whitefield used to scratch
on the window of the room where he was
entertained passage OF Scripture, and in
one case, after he left, the whole house,
hold was converted by the reading Of that
passage on the window-pane. The woman
of Shunem furnished little room over
the walls for Elisha, and all the ages have
heard the glorious consequences. On a
cold stormy winter night, my father en-
tertained Trueman Osborne. the evangel
ist, and through all eternity will thank
God that Trueman Osborne stopped ut
our house. How many ct our guests have
brought to us coincidence and sympathy
and help! There is a legend told Of st.
Sebald, that in his Christian rounds he
used to stop for entertainment at the
house Of a poor cartwright. Coming
there one day he found the
cartwright and his family freezing for the
lack of any fuel. st. Sebald ordered the
man to go out and break the icicies from
the side of the house and bring them in,
and the icicles were brought into the house
and thrown on the hearth, and they began
to blaze Immediately, and the freezing
family gathered around and were warmed
by them. That was a legend; but how
often have our guests come in to gather
up the cold, freezing sorrows of our life,
kindling them into illumination and
warmth and good cheer.
He who opens his house to Christian
hospitality turns those WHO are strangers
into friends. Years vii. go by, and there
will be great changes in you, and there
will be great changes in them
Some day you will be sitting in
loneliness, watching bereavement,
and YOU will get letter in strange
handwriting, and you will look at the
post office mark, and say: "Why, don't
know anybody living in that city;" and
you will break the envelope, and there
you will read the story OF thanks for your
Christian generosity long years before,
and how they have heard afar Off of your
trouble. And the letter will be so full OF
kindly "reminiscences and Christian con-
dolence, it will be plaster large enough
to cover up the deep gashes Of your soul.
When we take people into our houses as
Christian guests, we take them into our
svmpathies forever. In bort. Holland, a
soldier with sword at his side stopped at
house desiring lodging and shelter.
The woman of the house at first refused
edmittance, saving that the men OF
the house We're not at home; hut when he
showed his credentials, that he had been
honorably discharged from the army, he
was admitted and tarried during the night.
In the night time there was knocking at
the front door, and two ruffians broke in
to despoil that household. No sooner had
they come over the door-sill than the
armed guest, who had primed his piece
and charged it with slugs, met them. and
telling the woman to stand back, l am
happy to say. dropped the two assaulting
desperadoes dead at his feet. Well, now
there are no bandits prowling around to
destroy our houses: but how often it is
that We find those that have been our
guests become our defenders. We gave
them shelter first. and then afterwards, in
the great conflict of life, they fought for
our reputation: they fought for our prop.
ertv: they fought for our soul.
Another reward that comes from
Christian hospitality is in the assurance
that we shall have hospitality shown to
us and to ours. In the upturnings of this
life, who knows in what city or land we
NAV he thrown. and how much we may
need an open door? There NAV come nc
such crisis to us. bat our children NAV he
thrown into some such strait. He who is
in Christian manner hospitable has a
free pass through all Christendom. 1t may
be that you will have been dead fifty
wears before any such stress shall come
upon one OF your descendants, but do you
not suppose that God can remember fifty
yeors: and the knuckle of the grandchild
will be heard against the door Of some
stranger, and that door will Open
and it will be talked over in
heaven. and it will be said: "That mans
grandfather. fifty years ago. gave shelter
to a stranger. ard now a strangers door
is open for a grandson"
Among the Greeks, after entertaining
and being entertained, they take piece
of lead and cut it in two, and the host takes
one-half of the piece of lead and the guest
takes the other half as they part. These
two pieces OF lead are handed down from
generation to generation, and from family
to family, and after awhile, perhaps one
of the families in want or in trouble &C
out with this one piece of lead and find
Al %, <kn 80
piece OF lead, and no sooner is the tally
completed than the old hos
pitality is aroused and eter.
nal friendship pledged. So the
memory of Christian hospitality will
60 down from generation to generation
and from family to family, and the tally
will never be lost. neither in this world
nor the world to come.
Mark this: The day will come when We
will all be turned out Of doors, without
any exception, bare footed, hare-headed
no water in the canteen, no bread in the
haversack, and will go in that way into
the future world. And I wonder il
eternal Inequalities will open before ms,
and if we will he received into everlasting
habitatious: Francis Frescobald was a
rich Italian, and he was very merciful and
very Lospitable. One day, an English.
man, by the name Of Thomas
Cromwell. appeared at his door asking for
shelter and aims. which were cheerfully
rendered. Frescobald afterward lost all
his property. became very poor, and wan.
dered up into England; and one day he
saw procession passing, and 10! 1t was
the Lord Chancellor of England: and 10
the Lord Chancellor of England was
Thomas Cromwell, the very man whom
he had once befrIended down in Italy.
The Lord Chancellor, at the first glance Of
Frescobaid, recognized him, and dis.
mounted from his carriage, threw his
arms around him. and embraced him, paid
his debts. invited him to his house, and